Chapter 6: The Village

The Demihuman village. This seemingly primitive little village was up against a personal army of the local lord. The material which was used for building houses was mud, grass and sticks. The dresses which the residents wore were all rags; most of them didn't even wear anything on their feet. The village consisted of a few dozen houses, which surrounded a central, large campfire. The campfire was surrounded by almost a hundred demihumans. Women and man all stood there and was looking at one individual, who stood on a chest. The man was only wearing torn trousers, and his stomach was wrapped around by different clothes. Said rags were bloody. That man was massive; he was well-trained and had a few scars over his chest which seemed relatively new. The man had very short black hair, just like every man in the crowd.

"Everyone, please listen closely, as we do not have the luxury of wasting time! We must be prepared; the enemy is on their way to attack us! The scouts were already dealt with... So I ask everyone to be very careful. Grab your weapons and PROTECT YOUR HOMES, CHILDREN, AND LOVED ONES!" Announced the man, and with that, he raised his right hand up in the air.

Moments later, the entire mass of people raised their hands as well. The man who gave the speech stepped off of the chest and left the crowd.

"They should be on their way back... I hope they are alright..."Thought the man.

He was walking towards the edge of the village, and as he walked, suddenly, a muscular woman stopped him and gave him a sword. The woman instantly left after the man received the weapon.

"Why now? Why did they decide to attack us now? We kept our neutrality for so long, yet they decided o attack us just out of the blue!" Muttered the man furiously and then kicked the ground.

"Oh, it seems you are quite ready to die!" Stated a voice.

Before the voice could be heard, the man jumped back and slashed the air in front of him. His sword stopped mid-air and gave a loud metallic clang.

"Better Detection!" Shouted the man and spun his sword around.

Better Detection is a skill that was fused together from a base skill, Detection, which was a basic skill giving the user enhanced senses, and an auxiliary skill, which could not be used as a standalone; its only purpose was to boost specific skills which were compatible with it.

"Just as we have been told, you are quite a formidable warrior... Pity you refused our offer! You would have been a perfect force for our lord!" Stated the sound

Suddenly dozens of glowing red shapes appeared before the man. The glows vanished, and then, in their place, a dozen soldiers appeared. Each wore clothes, hoods and masks. Everything they wore was mainly brown, except their masks, which were black. Each was equipped with a sword, and the closes one to the demihuman was already pointing his weapon at the warrior before him.

From the demihuman's perspective, although his senses had been increased, the man was all identical, as only their eyes were visible. He quickly looked around, but he constated that he was surrounded from one side. Although he could have escaped, then he would open up the way to his comrade, so he gritted his teeth and took a deep breath.

"Fuck... That man said our invisibility would last longer... Never mind, we will subdue him and then finish the village!" Stated one of the humans.

"You fucking, spineless BASTARDS! How dare you try and use such tricks?" Screamed the demihuman

"We are only following orders, and since it pays well, I have no problem!" Stated another one of the humans, and then every other man started chortling.

"Better Strength! Lesser Stamina! Lesser Agility!" Shouted the demihuman.

At that moment, every human man pulled their weapons at the demihuman, who kicked off and was about to slash the man who stood close to him into two. However, suddenly on the ground, a blue-coloured magical circle appeared from which blue chains emerged and wrapped themselves around the demihuman in a split second. The restrained man started growling and struggling, but he was powerless against the bindings.

"Did you really think we would fight you fair and square? We knew we wouldn't be able to defeat you alone! How fool could you be? I thought we would need to have a few casualties before we could lead you to the trap! Thanks for making our job easier." Declared the man who stood closest to the restrained man.

Although the man's face was covered with his mask, his grin appeared as he watched the demihuman struggle.

"S-sir... T-this way... As you can see, it is only a tiny village." Said a faint voice.

The humans instantly looked around.

"What was that? This was not... This must be one of these beasts' voices!" Stated one of the hunters.

"You might have bound me here, but you will die for sure! The reinforcements have arrived! We have sent..." Stated the restrained demihuman, but he was kicked in the face.

The humans were all looking around, but suddenly, they all glared back at the bound man, as without any sound, they could see Adam standing beside him and looking at him.

"I am sorry for the intrusion, but I have to ask. Are you the one who is the strongest here?" Asked Adam with an apathetic face

"Hey kid, who the hell are you, and why are you hindering our job?" Shouted the man who stood right next to Adam.

Adam calmly stretched his back and looked at the man.

"I don't care who you are, but I am here to ask a few questions, so scram." Stated Adam and glared at the man.

"You little piece of shit! Do you have any idea what we are doing here and what YOU are doing? You leave, or I will have to regard your actions as actions against our lord; thus, you will be executed." Declared the man and brought his blade close to Adam.

"A mere level 8 dares to order me around?!" Replied Adam.

Upon hearing Adam's response, the man pulled his sword back and, with great force, slashed Adam's neck; although it was a clean hit, the shiny metal blade was dulled due to the impact, yet no damage was caused to Adam's neck. The man dropped his weapon and was about to scream, but Adam was faster. Although he only wanted to give a light slap to the man, due to his high level, his palm completely exploded the man's head.

All the other men started screaming in terror, and all started running away. Adam just stared at the body emotionlessly as it hit the ground, and then after a few seconds, a slight purplish aura appeared around him, which almost instantly dissipated. The bound demihuman started shaking.

"Just who the hell is this guy? The moment he released that aura... That moment was as if I was staring at death himself... Is he here to eradicate us?" Thought the demihuman as he started struggling even more.

"Now I understand what it was... Since I maxed out every skill, I have necromancer skills; although I have never used them before, I have a passive skill that has a passive life steal effect... And that strange relief was due to that skill..."

"My level back in Gates of Ardion was 155... and it seems that although I tried to give a slap to that man, I ended up utterly desecrating his body... If I remember correctly, the game allowed players to restrict their levels... Does it work here as well?" Contemplated Adam.

A few minutes later, from the forest, the two demihumans, whom Adam met and saved, rushed over to the restrained man, and they started shaking it.

"It's futile... It is a powerful spell... Please tell me you managed to call for reinforcements." Said the restrained man quietly.

"I am sorry, sir, but we were unable to accomplish our goals... We were followed and attacked; thus, we had to hide, but then this man saved us... But he requested an audience with you as compensation... I hope you don't mind, we... We didn't dare to refuse him... And he did heal us." Whispered the girl.

"Are you the one whom these two talked about? I need to talk to you regarding a few important matters." Said Adam as he slowly looked back at the demihumans.

"My name is Ruion... I don't know if I can be of any assistance... Seeing how powerful you are, I am sure you know more than I; I am but a lone swordman who has been protecting this village for years." Said the bound man and then nodded at the two young adults beside him.

The boy and the girl nodded, stood up, and then quickly walked towards the inner parts of the village. On the other hand, Adam grabbed one of his chains, and at that moment, the chains shattered.

"Such weak constraining spell... Nevermind... Now then, Would you mind answering a few questions?" Stated Adam with a bland expression.

The demihuman instantly stood up and was only able to stare at Adam's chest. As the man slowly processed what had happened, he started sweating.

"Strange... I should be a bit over 170... Despite this guy's massive body, he is still shorter than me... Everyone so far was shorter than me, now that I think about it... Could it be that the average height is lower than it was back in my world? Ruion could be 166 at most." Examined Adam to himself.

"I... Sir, I would, but currently, I am unable to leave my post. Our village is under attack... The man who you just killed is one of the attackers, and I believe they have a powerful mage on their side. Although I am ignorant when it comes to magic, that spell was able to restrain me... I am sure they will come back with great force now that you scared them away... Humans are truly ruthless beings! I...I-I am sorry; I didn't mean to offend you..." Babbled the man and took a step back.

"Offend me? Why? I know how humans are, what they are capable of... Also, if you are saying that the caster is most likely coming, then I will have a word with them as well..." Stated Adam, and suddenly his eyes slightly widened for a second.

Adam turned around and scratched his head, leaving the speechless demihuman stunned.

"Sir! I apologise for the intrusion, but I was worried about you! I wanted to talk to you the moment you woke up, and I was saddened to hear that you had left before I was given a chance to meet you!" Spoke up a girly voice in Adam's head.

"Telepathic Message? So this is how it works... So she is another one of my companions... I can feel her presence, but I don't know them well enough to recognise her voice... What to do... What to do? I know..." Thought Adam carefully to himself, without letting the girl know about it.

"Sir, if it is convenient for you at the moment, could I have a word with you? It would be crucial..." Continued the girl.

"If this is about us being teleported to another world, then I already know. I am currently gathering some valuable information to have a grasp of the current predicament we are in. However, since you wanted to meet me, I have a task for you. Come and find me; I'm near a..." Adam replied, but the girl interrupted her.

"Sir, Don't worry about the location. The very moment you created me, I memorised your presence. I would be able to find you easily. I will be there as soon as possible; please stay safe until then, sir!" Stated the girl and ended the Telepathic Message.

"Stay safe? I am stronger than any of you! Also, if you can really pinpoint my location, why didn't you notice my absence sooner?"